Published 2 years ago
by
Sandy Schaefer
, Updated November 7th, 2012 at 6:28 am,

Things are busy over at Marvel Studios, between the planning of ‘Phase Two’ for its shared movie universe and shooting on the sequel Thor: The Dark World. The God of Thunder’s second standalone film introduces multiple new characters and new worlds from Norse mythology, in addition to making the Thor universe feel more tangible and alive – as opposed to the shimmering, but lifeless, surfaces of Asgard in director Kenneth Branagh’s first film.

Chris Hemsworth stepped away from playing the eponymous hammer-wielding superhero to discuss a handful of interesting topics, such as the process of working with director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) on Thor 2, why he settled on a ‘proper English’ accent for the character, and what his experience making The Avengers was like.

“Awesome. Yeah, I love the way he adds an incredibly organic element to the fantastical world of Thrones, and I think that’s what Thor could benefit from. It’s grounded in reality, no matter how mythical or science-fiction-like it becomes. There’s a truth to it all. Certainly, working with him now, you can see he doesn’t want Thor or the Asgardians to seem like some distant race or god-like. He still wants them to be relatable.”

One look at the UK shooting locations and you can see that Hemsworth is telling the truth, as far as the idea that The Dark World (and its ‘inhabitants’) will look and feel all the more convincing. By comparison, Jotunheim (the Frost Giant world) in Thor was visually-impressive but had too much digital polish to work in a grittier portrayal of the Nine Realms (much like Asgard in that film). So, you can expect the ‘look’ of those places to change accordingly, should they appear in the sequel.

Jotunheim in ‘Thor’

On the subject of his vocal mannerisms as Thor, Hemsworth said:

“[For Thor], there’s a lot of ongoing reading and rereading of the script. I have a guy that I work with a lot who’s a voice coach, but also far more than that. We pull scripts apart and go into who these people are; his whole attitude of approaching a character is, instead of trying to mimic something or work out technically how you do that, it’s more why does someone speak like that. What’s in your personality or nature, or your past that has moulded you into sounding like this? That then raises a whole lot of questions about the character – which is great. You do that all the way through the film, even afterwards it’s hard to switch off sometimes.”

With regards to his choice of “very proper” English accent for the character:

“For whatever reason, it just seems to fit that world. Probably for no other reason than that it’s the way it’s been done in history. We associate Shakespearean speak [with god-like beings] because so many British actors have done it over the years. It resonates with the audience. Also, we had Anthony Hopkins, who is Welsh but has similar tones. I certainly couldn’t play him as Australian because people would think, ‘That’s Crocodile Dundee!’”

Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans in ‘The Avengers’

Lastly, with regards to his time making The Avengers (under the direction of Joss Whedon):

“Most of the time we’re all on set together and it just became a laugh for all of us. We sort of fed off [the energy of] each other and before you know it, someone has to step in and say, “Come on, we’re trying to shoot a movie here!” Robert Downey Jr obviously has an incredible sense of humour and wit about him, which you see in all his characters. He’s like that in real life. You’re playing catch-up; always 10 steps behind what he’s saying. All those guys I learned something from and admired.”

You can, of course, get an even better look at exactly what went on behind the scenes on Whedon’s Marvel superhero blockbuster by checking out the numerous making-of featurettes and interviews included on the Avengers Blu-ray.

The Marvel ‘Phase Two’ schedule is as follows: Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8th, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4th, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st, 2014, and The Avengers 2 on May 1st, 2015.

Honestly, I can’t think of a better actor for Thor. A lot of names, from Brad Pitt to Triple H, where attached once, but honestly, Hemsworth is owning the role like Hugh Jackman owns Wolverine and Robert Downey Jr. owns Iron Man. I love what Hemsworth has been doing. Hopefully, Thor 2 is awesome, which it seems like it will be.

I know Branagh is not as trendy as Alan “Game of Thrones” Taylor, but I hope The Dark World still has the heart of the first one. It’s one of the reason my son and I have watched Thor more times than I can count, and one of the reasons I will take him to see a Marvel movie but not a Batman one.

Notice he said, “It’s grounded in reality, no matter how mythical or science-fiction-like it becomes. There’s a truth to it all.”

That is the entire reason fans like me are skeptical of Guardians of the Galaxy. These movies are obviously science fiction/fantasy, but we can usually relate to the characters struggle. Whoever relates to a gun-slinging raccoon or a tree must either have a LSD laced past or their lives must suck.

As long as the production takes the content seriously, I can see a raccoon being a character, sure. I grew up with things like Howard the Duck turning out the lights while crawling into bed with Beverly but there was nothing “silly” or “disrespectful” to the character nor the fans.

Then you have things like the Ang Lee Hulk movie where you have him fighting gamma radiated dogs, with one being a poodle…

Personally, though, I would like the productions of super hero movies to not get TOO “grounded” or “relatable.” Without some loyalty to the original material and a modicum of escapism, I fear many future movies (and there’s likely to be many many more)will begin to feel like they are being painted from the same limited “realistic” palette.

The first Thor movie did, imho, a fantastic job at transferring what could have been a very silly background(a la He-Man)and also did a decent job of displaying some art style from Kirby. I’d rather not see a presentation of a “new” fantasy setting as much as a super hero movie based on the comic WITH some fantasy world done well.

Have you guys seen the pics of the changes in Thors costume? Pretty awesome. Looks the best so far. Guardians kinda upsets me. I was hoping they went with the original lineup from back in the day with Charlie and crew.